9 on panel to set priorities for UA
FAYETTEVILLE -- A nine-person committee of faculty, students and university staff will meet over the next six months with University of Arkansas at Fayetteville Chancellor Joe Steinmetz to help guide priorities for the university.
"I'm interested in learning what issues and opportunities may be present on all topics -- from history and culture, communication and information, campus climate to values and aspirations of all campus quarters," Steinmetz said in a statement released by UA.
Two students are on the committee: Tanner Bone, president of the Associated Student Government, and Lionel Davis II, president of the UA chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers.
Also on the committee is Trish Watkins, chairman of UA's staff senate.
Other members are: Lorraine Brewer, an instructor in UA's chemistry department; Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis, a music professor; Charles Small, director of student-athlete development in the Razorback athletic department; Tom Smith, dean of UA's College of Education and Health Professions; and Leslie Yingling, director of UA's Center for Multiculturalism and Diversity Education.
Laura Jacobs, Steinmetz' chief of staff, is also on the committee.
Politics professor earns book award
FAYETTEVILLE -- A book about Southern politics has earned a national honor for University of Arkansas at Fayetteville political scientist Angie Maxwell.
Maxwell's book, The Indicted South: Public Criticism, Southern Inferiority, and the Politics of Whiteness, was named the V.O. Key Award for Best Book in Southern Politics, an honor given by the Southern Political Science Association.
Key was an influential 20th-century political scientist known for his emphasis on analyzing public opinion data, such as from polls.
"I teach V.O. Key's work almost every semester," Maxwell said in a statement released by UA. "For my book to receive this kind of prestigious award named for such an influential scholar is thrilling. I am grateful for the encouragement."
Maxwell is director of UA's Diane D. Blair Center of Southern Politics and Society. She is the Diane D. Blair Professor of Southern Studies and an associate professor of political science at UA.
UA physicist wins Air Force grant
FAYETTEVILLE -- University of Arkansas at Fayetteville physicist Hugh Churchill has been awarded a $360,000 grant by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
The money will fund research into semiconducting nanomaterials known as quantum dots.
"These 2-D atomic materials provide the ingredients to make a wide variety of electronic and optoelectronic devices," Churchill said in a statement released by UA.
Churchill is an assistant professor of physics and director of UA's Quantum Device Laboratory.
Little Rock Nine member to speak
FAYETTEVILLE -- The youngest member of the Little Rock Nine will speak Thursday at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
Carlotta Walls LaNier will speak at 6:30 p.m. in the Verizon Ballroom at the Arkansas Union. The talk is open to the public.
In 1957, she was 14 years old and among the first group of nine black students to enroll in Central High School in Little Rock.
Walls LaNier is author of A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School and will sign books following her lecture.
3 from UA named on influence list
FAYETTEVILLE -- Three education researchers at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville have again made a list of influential scholars released by the American Enterprise Institute.
Jay Greene ranked 45th, Robert Maranto 113th, and Patrick Wolf 114th in the annual Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings. All three have made the list since the rankings were established in 2010.
Research topics for Greene include high school graduation rates and special education. Maranto studies charter schools and leadership. Wolf has co-authored a book about charter schools, The School Choice Journey: School Vouchers and the Empowerment of Urban Families.
Metro on 02/07/2016